[Twan013]

hey guys, i've got a querstion or 10... ok, when i bought my first few pounds of liverock, i had amphipods and bristleworms out the wazoo, (at the time, i didn't know they were amphipods, i just found that out a few minutes ago)... and now, since i've bought all my liverock (80 lbs total), i've only seen 2 or 3 bristleworms (mostly in the sand against the glass)(, and i think i've only seen 1 amphipod... i guess its a good thing because i don't like the way the looked in the aquarium (55 gal), but i was wondering what would make them dissappear so quickly? as far as fish go, i only have 7 small mollies, no skimmer, and plain jane flourescent lights so far... i'm still cycling by the way... oh, i also had some snails and hermits that came in/on the LR, but i haven't seen them since a day or 2 after adding in the last of the rock.. i guess its been a couple of weeks since i've seen anything listed so far... oh, and all of my tiny feather dusters have seemed to dissappear, except for one that has a bright red radiole (feather thing on the end).. if i'm not mistaken, that a coco worm, but i thought they would be harder to keep alive especially during a cycle...but he seems to be growing every day... anyway, my question is "is this normal?" all the things that seem like they would live, are dying or hiding, and what i figure would die, are still alive!

[crazygator]

the bristle worms are mainly active at night so they aren't as noticable but i believe that if the cycling process is still going on the everything is in hiding until it's over. so many holes so little time. when things are back to normal and you still don't want the bristle worms they make traps but a cheaper way is to take a piece of panty hose and put some shrimp in it and tie the end, sink it over night and in the morning remove it with tongs ( don't touch them, their alias is fire worm) and toss. bristle worms do a great job at helping keep the tank clean so don't get rid of them all.

[volitan_fa]

Most likely your inhabitants are dying off in the cycle (which would be signified by a LARGE ammonia spike most likely) or they're just hiding out like crazygator said. Wait it out and if there's any left they'll probably re-populate.

[Twan013]

good news people! well, as far as the cycle goes... its over with, i'm at 0.0 ammonia, nitrites, and 40 nitrates.... so all's i need is a water change or 2 to get the nitrates back down, correct?? oh, and there's a few of the worms still around, but most of them are dead, under the sand... so now what? sift through it all, which means moving the liverock around, or buy a cleaner crew? will a cleaner crew even take care of the new problem? oh, on a side note, i just bought my skimmer, a coralife super skimmer (for 125 gallons)